Some server applications benefit from 64-bit processors but ARM can still address a sizeable chunk of the server market with its current 32-bit designs, East said during a conference call to discuss the company's financial results.

"There are certainly server applications today for which ... a lack of 64-bit is not a barrier. A 32-bit processor is perfectly adequate to address [typically] multicore configurations and blades with multiple multicore chips," East said.

The company's upcoming Cortex-A15 is a 32-bit design that can extend to 40 bits, and ARM is considering 64-bit addressing in future processors after that, East said.

"It's logical to suppose that at some stage in the future ARM will extend its architecture in that direction, and it would certainly be helpful as and when we have those sorts of products," East said.

ARM, which licenses CPU designs to chip manufacturers such as Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, started talking about server processors in 2008, when system makers began experimenting with servers based on low-power netbook chips. The company entered the server market in November when Marvell announced an ARM-based quad-core chip for servers. Calxeda and Nvidia are also developing chips based on ARM cores.